A guidebook won’t do them justice. Neither will the best posts on Instagram. Nothing can adequately prepare you for your first visit to the Florida Keys. The slips of islands that make up this South Florida chain take most visitors by surprise. From the wild sunset skies to tranquil beaches, bustling shops, and once-in-a-lifetime restaurants, The Keys are filled with hidden gems. These islands are all connected by the Overseas Highway (U....
“We didn’t have any expectation of buying,” Adam Ford says. He and his wife, Amber, were content in their downtown Knoxville loft. With hopes of eventually finding an older house with character, the couple casually toured a 1940s Tudor, which had off-putting interiors (picture a canary yellow bedroom with a green closet and purple bath) that had scared off other prospective buyers. But Amber saw past the outdated aesthetics, and soon the 1,900-square-foot fixer-upper was theirs....
I’ll cut to the chase: Nothing happens if you don’t rinse uncooked quinoa. Yes, I know. Step one of most quinoa recipes is to rinse and drain the grains. And for many years, I did just that. I dumped the uncooked grains in a fine-mesh strainer set in my sink, ran cold tap water over the grains for about a minute, shook the grains in the strainer to remove as much water as possible, then scraped the damp grains into a saucepan....
Above ground, they don’t look like much. You may see them in a garden and wonder at the leafy stalks, the bunched green stems poking out of the earth in disorganized bunches. But a quick tug will soon reveal that, when it comes to root vegetables, the real magic happens below ground. What Are Root Vegetables? Root vegetables are quite literally the fruits of the earth, the hearty bulbs that swell and thrive beneath the soil....
New Orleans’ vibrant culinary culture makes it a must-go destination for dining enthusiasts. Many rush to the Big Easy to partake of fresh Gulf seafood, boldly-seasoned Cajun and Creole dishes like gumbo and jambalaya, spicy andouille sausage, sugar-dusted beignets, and iconic cocktails like the Sazerac and the Hurricane. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t also highlight NOLA’s unique and flavorful contribution to the American coffee lexicon: New Orleans-style chicory coffee....
In all our Pinterest-worthy, Insta-famous, spa-inspired dream bathrooms, there’s one common element: a clawfoot tub. (You’re nodding your head yes right now, aren’t you?) Something about a clawfoot tub is the ultimate combination of glamour and relaxation. In the past couple decades, they’ve regained popularity—an ode to the past in a room often regaled for its modern finishes. And we’d all be lying to ourselves if we said we didn’t want one....
It’s true: Kitchen tools can make or break the cook. That’s why Southern home cooks have an arsenal of hand tools—mixers, colanders, juicers—that they treat more like family. And they should, because these inanimate objects are more than just metal and plastic. They’re imbued with memories. They slice, they mash, they blend, they create cohesion where previously there was none. They usher disparate ingredients into beloved recipes, into dinner, into cake batter, into cheese straws....
A loving moment captured between two Arkansas brothers is moving hearts around the world. On December 30, Nicole Powell shared a video on Facebook of her six-year-old-son Rayce singing to her two-month-old son Tripp. The clip, which has already been viewed upwards of 2 million times, shows Tripp, who has Down Syndrome, being cradled in his big brother’s arms as he softly sings “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber....
The Corolla Wild Horse Fund is here with another reminder of how different wild horses are from their domesticated brethren. This week’s lesson: barriers. A video posted by the fund on Facebook last week shows how the wild horses of North Carolina’s Outer Banks feel about misguided human attempts to limit their ability to roam freely, as they have for hundreds of years. In the clip (below), six wild horses use their noses to nonchalantly lift a rope, then simply walk under it to access a private road....
Dolly has done it again! Peerless philanthropist Dolly Parton quietly donated a whopping $1 million to pediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville, Tennessee, aimed to help in the fight against serious infectious diseases like coronavirus. The songstress is a longtime benefactor of VUMC, famously donating $1 million to their COVID-19 vaccine efforts in April 2020. Parton also donated $1 million to Vanderbilt Children’s Pediatric Cancer Program in honor of her niece, who was treated for leukemia as a child there, in 2017....
Tall above the rubble, a historic landmark still stands on Florida’s Sanibel Island. Somehow, the Sanibel Island Lighthouse managed to withstand Hurricane Ian’s 150 mph winds and 8-to-15-foot storm surge Wednesday. According to Lighthouse Digest, though it’s still standing, the illuminated lens-bearing metal structure is in danger of collapse. The keepers’ houses surrounding it for more than a century were also leveled in the storm. “Look closely and you will notice that the bottom of one of the support legs is gone, and erosion under the other legs puts the lighthouse in a precarious position,” the online publication shared on Facebook Friday....
When we magically find a pot of gold, we’ll be calling Ben and Erin Napier to redecorate our home, thank you very much. While we’ve often wondered what it’s really like to be on Home Town, what we’ve really wondered is: How can we hire the Napiers, or the Property Brothers, or Nate Berkus…or any of our favorite stars from HGTV to renovate our digs? If money is no object, you might be able to commission a full project with your top pick HGTV design guru....
Newbie gardeners, listen up! This beautiful plant blooms insanely in the winter, grows easily, and (for some strange reason) isn’t found in any of your neighbor’s gardens. Native to China, winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a vining, deciduous shrub that grows three to four feet high and twice as wide. It will climb a trellis, but it looks best cascading over the top of a retaining wall or tumbling down a bank or hillside....
It’s not difficult to make homemade buttermilk. Yes, the real deal liquid, not a substitute. This recipe and method yield not only buttermilk, but butter to boot. Keep in mind, however, that homemade buttermilk is thin and slightly sweet tasting, nothing like the thick, tangy, bottled buttermilk we buy in stores. If your baking recipe calls for buttermilk, it’s wise to use store-bought because the leavening often includes baking soda (an alkaline) to balance the acidity of commercial buttermilk....
The holidays will be here before we know it, and that means a lot of traveling and visiting with family. While our family and friends may instruct us to just “pack yourselves” this holiday, we know we’d be remiss if we came without our legendary mac and cheese recipe or the family-favorite cheesecake. But how can we travel with these items and have them arrive safely and securely? And what about all those leftovers?...
Spring has sprung — time for a doughnut. Or how about some mini doughnuts? Available for a limited time starting yesterday, March 25, at participating Krispy Kreme shops across the U.S., “Spring Minis” includes the return of three darling miniature doughnuts, two of which feature a new look this year. Per Krispy Kreme’s press release: NEW Mini Blue Bird Doughnut — a mini Original Glazed®Doughnut dipped in bright blue icing and decorated like a bluebird....
A group of North Carolina landfill workers are being hailed as heroes after they went above and beyond to help reunite a couple with priceless jewelry that mistakenly ended up in the trash. On Friday, April 2, Pam Smith was cleaning her house in Castle Hayne when she noticed that approximately $16,000 worth of jewelry (including her wedding ring) was missing. “I just was frantic that I couldn’t find my rings,” Pam recalled to WECT’s Bill Murray....
As you prepare to sell your home, there are the obvious things to do like making sure your plumbing is working, upgrading your curb appeal, and cleaning your windows. Then, there are the less obvious things that could impact your home’s resale value—like painting your bathroom. So what color could potentially help boost your selling price? Periwinkle blue. According to the 2022 Zillow Paint Color Analysis, a bathroom painted in periwinkle blue may mean your home price could be 1....
Joe Grondalski and Shannon Ruff were walking along the beach on Hilton Head Island Tuesday when they came across what looked like a small head in the sand. Ruff told The Island Packet that when she bent down to get a closer look, the creepy looking creature retreated into its hole. Later it popped back up, repeatedly opening, and closing its mouth. The couple say they saw another a dozen of the mysterious little creatures over the course of their walk....
For people raised in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, perhaps no meal is more comforting and satisfying, or less expensive and fussy, than a big pot of pintos cooked in the style known as soup beans. Soup beans are not soup, but these slowly simmered beans are soupy, bathed in a rich, creamy, nutritious pot likker that’s inseparable from the beans themselves, sometimes literally. Each time soup beans are reheated, the beans get creamier, and their liquid gets thicker and more delicious....
